Toronto Van Attack Kills 10, Wounds 15 With No Gun

When anti-gun activists tell us that we simply have to give up our Second Amendment rights to stop rampage killings, many of us point out that, without guns, violent maniacs will simply use other weapons. Meanwhile, you will have denied countless people their right to keep and bear arms so they can protect themselves from these maniacs.

At least ten people were killed and 15 were injured when a van plowed into a crowd of pedestrians on a sidewalk in two locations in Toronto on Monday afternoon.

“This is a time when this community should come together,” Toronto Mayor John Tory said at a press briefing on Monday. “I hope that we will, as a city, remind ourselves of the fact that we are admired around the world for being inclusive and for being accepting and understanding and considerate, and that we are united in standing in solidarity, especially with those who have fallen victim to this terrible tragedy today.”

Here’s what we know about the incident so far:

Ten people were killed in the attack

At least ten people were killed when the van plowed onto the sidewalk, Toronto Police Service Chief Mark Saunders said at a press conference Monday evening.

He said 15 additional people were injured.

Ten victims were transported to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, where two people were pronounced dead upon arrival.

Five people remain in critical condition at Sunnybrook, two are in serious condition, and one is in fair condition, Sunnybrook said.

Clearly, we need to register trucks and require a license prior to people being allowed to operate one. If we do that, then maybe we can prevent such horrible tragedies. Oh, wait, we already do that.

Then what we need are stricter van control policies. I’m sure Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg will back me up on this. Let me check their Twitter feed. Odd, they’re silent for these common sense van control policies. Why is that?

Maybe because guns are scarier than vans to people who have had a lifetime of exposure to motor vehicles but not firearms?

Evil will be with us always. We need to address it and figure out how to help these people before they reach this point if we really want to stop rampage killings like this or Parkland. Otherwise, as we’ve pointed out, and as Toronto illustrates, they’ll just shift to another tool to carry out their murderous impulses.

“Oh, but the death toll would be so much worse if he’d used a gun,” someone might say. To that, I simply point out a little place called Nice, France. There, 87 people were killed, 434 were injured when a terrorist used a truck. It was worse than any mass shooting in American history. A large vehicle is just as deadly as any AR-15 or handgun.

We’ll always have disturbed people who want to kill a lot of folks. However, unless we work to try and reduce their number, they’ll still find a way to kill people. They’ll hurt dozens of innocent folks with whatever they can get their hands on.

Meanwhile, the gun grabbers are so focused on the tool that they’re ignoring the evidence right in front of them that the tools aren’t the issue, it’s the jackwagons using the tools to hurt people that are the issue. It would be nice to have at least one acknowledge that fact.